The present disclosure relates generally to dishwasher appliances and to racks for holding dishware and glassware for a dishwasher. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a stemware support/cup shelf disposed on a washware rack for stemware such as wine glasses, and which also serves as a cup shelf for cups and other small items.
In general, most domestic dishwashers include two washware or dishware racks to support items to be washed such as dishware, glassware, kitchen utensils, pots, pans, and the like. Typically, the two washware racks include an upper washware rack positioned near a top portion of the dishwasher, and a lower washware rack arranged below the upper washware rack. The upper washware rack is used to support glassware, utensils, and other small items, while the lower washware rack is used to support larger items, such as dinner plates, large bowls, cooking sheets, and baking pans. Some dishwashers also include a third, top washware rack arranged immediately above a second or middle washware rack and for holding smaller items such as utensils, cups, and small bowls. The second, middle washware rack is in turn positioned above a first, bottom or lower washware rack inside the dishwashing compartment. The washware racks are normally formed from several discrete lengths of wire, welded together and then covered with a rubber or a plastic coating. Further, the various washware racks are typically formed with a plurality of vertically projecting, fixed tines and/or fixed ribs to support and organize the items placed on the washware rack.
Some dishwashers have devices for supporting the stems of wine glasses when the wine glasses are placed in a washware rack and which can also be used to support cups on an upper shelf area. Such devices may also have hinge mechanisms to allow them to be rotated upward when not in use to free up space in the washware rack.
However, the above-described devices for supporting the stems of wine glasses have complicated hinge mechanisms that are difficult for a user to operate and are also costly to manufacture. Also, the complicated hinge mechanisms are more liable to break or malfunction with continued use.
An apparatus consistent with the present disclosure is directed to providing a stemware support/cup shelf assembly disposed on a washware rack of a dishwasher that is not only versatile, but is also easy for the user to operate and inexpensive to manufacture.
According to one aspect, the present disclosure provides a stemware support/cup shelf assembly disposed on a washware rack for supporting stemware and which also serves as a cup shelf, comprising: a frame having a front edge portion with a plurality of notches which support stemware, an upper shelf portion which serves as a cup shelf, and a rear edge portion having a pair of mounts for mounting the stemware support/cup shelf assembly to a side wall portion of the washware rack, wherein each of the pair of mounts is configured to allow the frame to rotate upward from a stowed position into a working angle position and then slide horizontally into a final locked position.
According to another aspect, each of the pair of mounts comprises a vertical slot and a horizontal slot which interact with a corresponding vertical wire of the side wall portion of the washware rack.
According to another aspect, the horizontal slot includes a retaining nub which clicks past the corresponding vertical wire of the side wall portion of the washware rack on condition that the frame of the stemware support/cup shelf assembly is slid into the final locked position.
According to another aspect, the frame comprises hinges which allow the frame to rotate downward into the stowed position along the side wall portion of the washware rack.
According to another aspect, the frame is supported by the hinges when in the stowed position along the side wall portion of the washware rack.
According to another aspect, the hinges are disposed along the rear edge portion next to the pair of mounts, the hinges allowing the frame to rotate about a horizontal wire of the side wall portion of the washware rack.
According to another aspect, the present disclosure provides a washware rack of a dishwasher, comprising: a basket formed by a plurality of wire shaped elements, the plurality of wire shaped elements including a bottom portion and a side wall portion; and at least one stemware support/cup shelf assembly disposed on the side wall portion of the basket for supporting stemware and which also serves as a cup shelf, the at least one stemware support/cup shelf assembly including a frame having a front edge portion with a plurality of notches which support stemware, an upper shelf portion which serves as a cup shelf, and a rear edge portion having a pair of mounts for mounting the at least one stemware support/cup shelf assembly to the side wall portion of the basket, wherein each of the pair of mounts is configured to allow the frame to rotate upward from a stowed position into a working angle position and then slide into a final locked position.
According to another aspect, each of the pair of mounts comprises a vertical slot and a horizontal slot which interact with a corresponding vertical wire of the side wall portion of the basket.
According to another aspect, the horizontal slot includes a retaining nub which clicks past the corresponding vertical wire of the side wall portion of the basket on condition that the frame of the at least one stemware support/cup shelf assembly is slid into the final locked position.
According to another aspect, the frame comprises hinges which allow the frame to rotate downward into the stowed position along the side wall portion of the basket.
According to another aspect, the frame is supported by the hinges when in the stowed position along the side wall portion of the basket.
According to another aspect, the washware rack further comprises another of the at least one stemware support/cup shelf assembly such that there is a pair of stemware support/cup shelf assemblies disposed on the side wall portion of the basket, with each one of the pair of stemware support/cup shelf assemblies having three notches configured to support a like number of stemware.
According to another aspect, the hinges are disposed along the rear edge portion next to the pair of mounts, the hinges allowing the frame to rotate about a horizontal wire of the plurality of wire shaped elements of the side wall portion of the washware rack.
According to another aspect, the present disclosure provides a dishwasher, comprising: a dishwashing compartment having a loading opening; a door configured to close the loading opening; at least one washware rack configured as a basket formed by a plurality of wire shaped elements, the plurality of wire shaped elements including a bottom portion and a side wall portion and being configured for movement out of and into the dishwashing compartment; and at least one stemware support/cup shelf assembly disposed on the side wall portion of the basket for supporting stemware and which also serves as a cup shelf, the at least one stemware support/cup shelf assembly including a frame having a front edge portion with a plurality of notches which support stemware, an upper shelf portion which serves as a cup shelf, and a rear edge portion having a pair of mounts for mounting the at least one stemware support/cup shelf assembly to the side wall portion of the basket, wherein each of the pair of mounts is configured to allow the frame to rotate upward from a stowed position into a working angle position and then slide into a final locked position.
According to another aspect, each of the pair of mounts comprises a vertical slot and a horizontal slot which interact with a corresponding vertical wire of the side wall portion of the basket.
According to another aspect, the horizontal slot includes a retaining nub which clicks past the corresponding vertical wire of the side wall portion of the basket on condition that the frame of the at least one stemware support/cup shelf assembly is slid into the final locked position.
According to another aspect, the frame comprises hinges which allow the frame to rotate downward into the stowed position along the side wall portion of the basket.
According to another aspect, the frame is supported by the hinges when in the stowed position along the side wall portion of the basket.
According to another aspect, the dishwasher further comprises another of the at least one stemware support/cup shelf assembly such that there is a pair of stemware support/cup shelf assemblies disposed on the side wall portion of the basket, with each one of the pair of stemware support/cup shelf assemblies having three notches configured to support a like number of stemware.
According to another aspect, the hinges are disposed along the rear edge portion next to the pair of mounts, the hinges allowing the frame to rotate about a horizontal wire of the plurality of wire shaped elements of the side wall portion of the washware rack.
The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The exemplary embodiments set forth below represent the necessary information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the invention and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.
Moreover, it should be understood that terms such as top, bottom, front, rear, middle, upper, lower, right side, left side, vertical, horizontal, downward, upward, and the like used herein are for orientation purposes with respect to the drawings when describing the exemplary embodiments and should not limit the present invention unless explicitly indicated otherwise in the claims. Also, terms such as substantially, approximately, and about are intended to allow for variances to account for manufacturing tolerances, measurement tolerances, or variations from ideal values that would be accepted by those skilled in the art.
As shown in
More specifically, the first, bottom or lower washware rack 400 is configured as a basket for holding larger plates, large bowls, pans, cookware such as a cooking sheet, etc. The bottom or lower washware rack 400 is configured as a basket 410 that includes a sidewall portion including front 401, rear (not shown), and opposing side walls 403 (one of which is visible) interconnected with a bottom portion 404 and formed by a plurality of wire shaped elements. The bottom or lower washware rack 400 may include a plurality of vertically extending tines or tine members TM. At the bottom portion of the bottom or lower washware rack 400 at the left and right sides thereof, rollers 415 are provided and are configured to run on corresponding flanges or tracks TS on the inside wall of the dishwashing compartment 101 and also on an inside surface of the door D, as is conventional in the art. The bottom washware rack 400 can include a handle 445.
The second or middle washware rack 300 is positioned immediately above the bottom washware rack 400. The middle washware rack 300 is configured as a basket to hold medium sized dishes, bowls such as medium sized bowls, and glasses. The middle washware rack 300 includes front 301, rear 302, and opposing side walls 303 (one of which is visible) interconnected with a bottom portion 304 and formed by a plurality of wire shaped elements. The bottom portion 304 includes a plurality of forms 305 and adjustable tine rows 306, 306′ for holding items in place on the middle washware rack 300. The middle washware rack 300 has water feed 307 for the spray arm S1 (see also
As noted above, the bottom washware rack 400 and the middle washware racks 300 are formed of wire shaped elements that are configured to have a basket shape. The wire shaped elements of the bottom and middle washware racks 400 and 300, respectively, may be formed of solid plastic, metal wire coated with plastic or rubber, or composite materials.
As shown in
The stemware support/cup shelf assembly 10 will now be described with reference to
With reference to
The plurality of notches N support stemware such as, but not limited to, the stemmed wine glasses WG. In this case, while three notches N are shown in each of the stemware support/cup shelf assemblies 10, clearly more or less notches N can be used. Also, while four stemmed wine glasses WG are shown in
The hinges 40 and 42 allow the frame F to rotate or pivot about the upper horizontal wire UHW as the stemware support/cup shelf assembly 10 is rotated between the use or working position and the non-use or stowed position. In this regard, note that each hinge 40 and 42 includes a recessed portion 40P near its base (one of which is visible in
As best shown in
As best shown in
As best shown in
When in operation, in order to change one of the stemware support/cup shelf assemblies 10 from a stowed position (shown in
To again place the stemware support/cup shelf assembly 10 in the stowed position along the side wall portion SP of the basket B, the user simply reverses the above steps by pushing the frame F horizontally in an opposite direction or toward the back of the basket B such that the retaining nubs 35 move past and free up the vertical wires VW, and the frame F continues to move with respect to the vertical wires VW along the horizontal slots HS until the vertical slots VS are in alignment with the vertical wires VW. Then, the user can rotate the frame F down about the hinges 40 and 42 that are rotatably clipped on the upper horizontal wire UHW while the vertical slots VS allow the vertical wires VW to move therethrough until the frame F is positioned along the side wall portion SP of the basket B and the rounded cutouts 65 fit over the lower horizontal wire LHW. The frame F is supported by the hinges 40 and 42 in the stowed position (see
Accordingly, consistent with the present disclosure, each of the stemware support/cup shelf assemblies 10 has two functions: 1) to support the stems of one or more wine glasses or similar stemware type glasses, while at the same time holding the stemware in a position so that the cup portion of the glass is pointed toward the dishwasher water spray jets to permit effective cleaning of the glass; and 2) to provide a flat shelf area where cups and other small dishes and items can be arranged for washing.
The present invention has substantial opportunity for variation without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. For example, while the middle washware rack 300 is provided with stemware support/cup shelf assemblies 10, other washware racks, such as the lower washware rack or upper washware rack can also be configured to accommodate stemware support/cup shelf assemblies 10 consistent with the present disclosure. Also, the various features described in connection with a particular embodiment can be used (mixed and matched) with the other embodiments wherever appropriate.
Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow.
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